Five Democratic candidates stop in Ruidoso for parade and forum

Lincoln County Democrats welcomed five of their candidates to the Aspenfest Parade Sept. 6, followed by a luncheon and forum.

 Headlining was Xochitl Torres Small, candidate for New Mexico Congressional District 2, who dashed energetically along the parade route, greeting spectators, many enthusiastic supporters who exclaimed almost with disbelief “I’ve seen you on TV, but..”

Stephanie Garcia Richard, candidate for State Land Commissioner, also marched the route, greeting spectators, asking for their votes.  Tim Eichenberg, seeking re-election as State Treasurer walked the parade route, as did Steve Fischmann, candidate for Public Regulatory Commission District 5.

A DPLC member noted after a parade earlier in the year that a lot of candy gets left on the ground and goes to waste, and came up with the idea to hand out coupons from McDonalds.

Following the parade, Lincoln County Dems gathered for a luncheon and speeches from their candidates. 

Small told her story, saying she is the granddaughter of an immigrant who worked in the cotton fields outside of Las Cruces to establish her American Dream, and make the dream possible for her children, one of which was Xochi’s father.  In turn, Small said she feels a responsibility to work to make sure the American Dream is secured for future generations.

She also told about one of the reasons she was drawn to practicing water law:  understanding water issues involves science. Fresh out of law school and looking to pay off student debt, she took a job as Senator Tom Udall’s representative serving southern New Mexico.  In that capacity, she served all of his constituents, not just those who had voted for him. This gave her an appreciation of working together to solve problems;  she expressed an eagerness to work with anyone with a sincere desire to develop solutions that genuinely help New Mexicans and all Americans.

Asked about attack ads against her,  Small said she could only remain true to who she is and her values. She said that such attack ads do not demonstrate an appreciation of working together to solve problems. She noted that “it may make some in the room unhappy, but I am not in favor of Medicare-for-All”  She said she would rather work on improving the ACA / Obamacare, and maintaining the prohibition on the infamous “pre-existing conditions”, for example.

The final question to Small was “Did you hit that bird you were shooting at?” a reference to her political ad on television. She laughed and replied, “Yes, and it was tasty too”.

Asked about his campaign for re-election to State Treasurer, Tim Eichenberg noted that he had been working more than 50 hours a week and hadn’t had much time lately to do campaigning. 

Stephanie Garcia Richard, candidate for NM State Land Commissioner, outlined her background, the reasons she is running and her vision for taking the Land Office into the future by emphasizing renewables. She is an educator, chair of the State House Education Committee, so is acutely aware of the connection of funds generated by the Land Office to education in New Mexico.

Richard said she is committed to transparency in the dealings of the Land Office, ending the deals made behind closed doors, to the detriment of New Mexicans. She said she intends to increase funding for education by raising New Mexico’s royalty rates for oil and gas extraction, to be more in line, for example, with Texas. This, and her commitment to renewables, has put a target on her back from out-of-state oil and gas PACs that have been putting out attack ads, she said.

The two Democratic candidates for the Public Regulatory Commission, but in different PRC districts, attended and spoke. The PRC regulates utilities, among other things, and in the words of one of the candidates Stephen Fischmann, is “the most important job (in New Mexico) you’ve never heard of”.  In theory, the PRC should be a watchdog for consumer interests.

Kevin Sanders, an attorney running for PRC Commission District 2, which includes most of Lincoln County, and the eastern portion of New Mexico, outlined his qualifications and how they would help the PRC function better on behalf of consumers. Sanders has served as an intern for the PRC, so he is familiar with its responsibilities, how they should be carried out, and often have not been in the past. He said he sees the job of the PRC as balancing competing interests.

Stephen Fischmann, also running for PRC Commissioner, but in District 5, elaborated on the duties of PRC commissioners,  In his career, Fischmann had the responsibility of director of finance of three divisions of a Fortune 500 company.  He emphasized that the PRC makes decisions impacting consumers on the order of multi-millions of dollars.  Without a PRC that includes someone with sufficient financial savvy, the utilities can run the commissioners around in circles to get what they want, he said. Fischmann has the financial expertise to evaluate the validity of utility rate increase requests, and a passion for protecting consumers.